Mark Tullio Strukelj (born 23 June 1962) is an Italian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. A coach, he is currently in charge as

Attilio Tesser Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian association football manager and former defender, who is currently the head coach of Modena. Playing career Tesser, a defender, started his playing career with Treviso. He moved to Napoli in 19 ...

's assistant at Modena.

Early life

Strukelj's parents emigrated from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

to Australia before settling in England, where he was born to an Italian father and an English mother.

Playing career

Strukelj played one season in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

for

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

(1983–84), mostly as a backup to Brazilian star

Paulo Roberto Falcão Paulo Roberto Falcão, or simply Falcão (; born 16 October 1953), is a Brazilian former footballer and football manager. He is the current sporting coordinator of Santos. Falcão is widely considered one of the best players in Internacional ...

, winning the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. He also came on as a substitute with 5 minutes to go in extra time in the

1984 European Cup Final The 1984 European Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Roma of Italy on 30 May 1984 at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. It was the final match of the 1983–84 season of Europe's premier cup competition, ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, a club of which he is a fan; Roma lost in the subsequent

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. His career was hampered by the chronic injury of his ankle that forced him to retire at the age of 30.

Coaching career

After starting a career as a youth coach at

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

, he became

's right-hand man on all of his coaching roles from 2003 onwards.

Personal life

Strukelj was born in England to an Italian father and an English mother, and moved to

(the city of origin of his father) with his family at the age of 2. He spent occasionally time in England with his maternal grandparents, which led him to become a

fan. His son Kevin Strukelj is also a professional footballer.

Honours

Roma *

winner: 1983–84.

References

1962 births Living people Italian footballers Serie A players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players AS Roma players Pisa S.C. players Treviso F.B.C. 1993 players S.S. Arezzo players U.S. Pistoiese 1921 players S.S.D. Castel San Pietro Terme Calcio players Men's association football midfielders Italian people of English descent Italian people of Slovenian descent People from Dorking Footballers from Surrey {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub